A fire poker (also known as a “stoker”) is a short, rigid rod, preferably of fireproof material, used to adjust coals and/or wood fuel, burning in a fireplace or a firepit. It is often metallic and sometimes has a point at one end for pushing burning materials (or a hook for pulling/raking, or a combination thereof) and a handle at the opposite end.
An example of a fire poker as found in the prior art can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,675. This fire poker has a hook portion attached at one end of a shaft, with a handle at the opposing end. The handle incorporates such features as a directional compass and an aperture to hang the poker. Although this poker has a straight segment that extends past the hook portion by about one inch, this distance is not significant enough to allow for the straight segment to be utilized for stoking a fire without having the hook portion interfere with the process. Furthermore, the nature of the shaft of the fire poker will typically result in the fire being stoked in essentially a downward direction. This makes the manipulation of the fuel of the fire substantially more difficult, and extra energy is required to be expended by the user in order to stoke the fire in a satisfactory manner.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 248,209 illustrates a fireplace poker that has an elongate shaft with a hook member disposed near the very end of the shaft. At the opposing end, there appears to be a wooden handle attached thereto. In this design, the hook member is located so close to the tip of the shaft that manipulation of the fuel of the fire with the tip of the shaft independent of the hook, or the hook independent of the tip, becomes essentially impossible. In essence, what should be a device with two distinct means for maneuvering the fuel of a fire, is instead relegated to essentially only a single means. Also, the nature of the shaft of the poker will result in the fire being stoked in essentially a downward direction, as the user will typically be in an elevated position with respect to the fire. This angle provides for less efficiency when manipulating the fire, and delicate displacement of, e.g. logs of the fire, becomes difficult. Akin to this, fire pokers of this design are considerably less ergonomic.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 267,999 illustrates a fire poker that has an elongate shaft. One end of the shaft has what appears to be a wooden handle attached thereto. The opposing end of the shaft is curled around to form a hook member. At the same end of the shaft, but on the side opposing the hook member, another hook member extends from the shaft. The first hook member points back in substantially the same direction as the handle, whereas the second hook member points in substantially the opposite direction of the handle. With this configuration, any manipulation of the fuel of the fire will always tend to be in the downward direction, unless the user has lowered themselves to the level of the fire. Also, the handle appears to be an extraneous piece which has mere been attached to the shaft after the poker has been molded/forged. This provides for instances where the handle may fall off or break off from the shaft, making the poker considerably more difficult to wield.